Dr. Girish Parmar, former Dean of Government Dental College, Ahmedabad, arrested by ACB.
The Gujarat ACB on Wednesday booked two health department officers one serving and one retired for allegedly demanding a 30 lakh bribe. The accused are Dinesh B Parmar, Additional Secretary, and Dr. Girish Jethalal Parmar, former dean of Government Dental College, Ahmedabad.
Girish Parmar was arrested at his home in the Shahibaug area of Ahmedabad Tuesday. He was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting Rs 15 lakh from the complainant, a doctor in the public sector.
The complainant earlier worked as Deputy Director of Health and Medical Services in Bhavnagar, where he took action against some staff for suspected fake medical practices. Later, someone filed an extortion complaint against him with the Health Department Commissioner. As a result, he and another doctor were suspended, and a preliminary inquiry was started.
The investigating officer completed this departmental inquiry in October 2024 and submitted his report in January 2025. In the meantime, Girish Parmar, through an intermediary, allegedly contacted the complainant and called for a meeting with Dinesh Parmar, with the agenda of putting in a favourable report in the preliminary inquiry report.
When the complainant and the fellow doctor went to Gandhinagar, the two accused allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 30 lakh in lieu of a favourable outcome. While Rs 15 lakh was to be given in advance, the rest was to be given after the work was completed, as per the allegation.
When Girish Parmar called the complainant to pay the first tranche of the bribe amount, the complainant, instead, approached the ACB. A team led by Police Inspectors S N Barot and A K Chauhan laid a trap.
Girish Parmar was apprehended after he had a “purposeful conversation” with the complainant about the matter and was caught accepting the bribe amount.